Source: Sharecast
Stocks to watch
British Airways and Iberia owner IAG posted a 2% increase in third-quarter operating profit as it said demand for travel “remains strong”. Operating profit rose to €2.05bn from €2.01bn in the same period a year earlier and the company said it was “on track to on track to deliver another year of growth in revenues, profit and shareholder returns”.
ITV on Friday confirmed it was in preliminary discussions regarding a possible sale of its broadcasting business to Sky for an enterprise value of £1.6bn. It added that there could be no certainty on the terms of any potential sale of the business - which contains its TV channels and ITVX streaming service - or whether any transaction will take place.
Newspaper round-up
More than 250 British company bosses have urged Rachel Reeves to use her budget to make UK pension schemes channel extra funds into domestic businesses, increasing private investment by as much as £95bn. In a letter to the chancellor, business leaders said the government must address a crisis in which pension investment in UK-listed companies has fallen from 53% of total equity holdings in 1997 to 4% this year. - Guardian
The boss of AstraZeneca has said that unless the UK ramps up spending on new drugs, it could be on a trajectory to only being able to afford cheap, generic medicines rather than cutting-edge treatments. Pascal Soriot made the remarks amid an acrimonious standoff between the pharmaceutical industry and the government over drug pricing, which has been blamed for drugmakers pausing or ditching nearly £2bn of investments in the UK this year. – Guardian
The US private equity firm seeking control of The Telegraph brought an unidentified investor into AC Milan without meeting its obligation to notify football authorities. RedBird Capital Partners failed to inform the club, which it acquired in 2022, that a newcomer had acquired an interest of at least 10pc. AC Milan therefore did not notify the Italian Football Federation under ownership transparency rules intended to allow background checks on whether football club investors are suitable. They are required to provide documentation on financial strength and criminal records. – Telegraph
OpenAI has said it might need government backing to fund a trillion-dollar spending plan amid concerns that the AI boom is being funded by enormous levels of debt. Sarah Friar, OpenAI’s chief financial officer, said the company – which owns ChatGPT – could seek a federal “backstop [or] guarantee” that could allow it to borrow more money at lower rates. The business spends huge sums on high-powered chips and data centres to power AI’s immense computing demands. – Telegraph
Partners at a City law firm have ordered staff to be in the office at least four days a week in the latest move away from remote working. Goodwin Procter, one of a growing band of US law firms in the Square Mile, is said to have informed lawyers and other staff this week that they will be obliged to attend the office from Monday to Thursday from the start of next year. – The Times
US close
Major indices closed lower on Thursday as investors weighed a potential rollback of trade tariffs and artificial intelligence-linked equities came under pressure yet again.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.03% at 46,822.10, while the S&P 500 shed 1.07% to 6,723.73 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.86% softer at 23,062.53.